TNR – The Feral Cat Debate

Feral cats are cats who have had little or no significant contact with humans. These cats are used to fending for themselves and don’t do well as an indoor pet cat. Many cat lovers have turned to Trap-Neuter-Return programs (also known as TNR) to handle the feral cats in their communities. There may already be TNR programs running near you. However, not everyone is thrilled with TNR.

What is TNR?

The idea behind a Trap-Neuter-Return program is to control the population of feral cats and allow feral cats to get necessary care while remaining feral. Ideally, feral cats would be taken care of by the community that they live in- provided with suitable food, water, and shelter. Volunteers would humanely trap the cats and bring them to the veterinarian to:

Be spayed or neutered

Given proper vaccinations

Receive and ear tip – removal of a part of the left ear (this doesn’t hurt the cat) to notify other members of the public that the cat has been spayed or neutered.

Once the veterinary procedures have been finished, all socialized cats and feral kittens (under 12 weeks old) would be placed up for adoption. All feral cats would be returned to the community from which they were trapped and continue to live outdoors. Sickly cats would be treated as their illness required.

What is the debate really about?

Both sides of the TNR argument agree that there is an overpopulation of feral cats. They also agree that spaying and neutering cats is essential to stabilizing the cat population. The real debate lies in the following questions:

Whose responsibility is the care of feral cats?

Can feral cats live happy, healthy lives outdoors?

Can feral cats live in harmony with humans and the other species living around them?

What do we do with cats who are not socialized enough to be adopted into homes?

The Argument Against TNR

Generally, groups like The Wildlife Society and American Bird Conservancy (who oppose TNR) believe that TNR does not actually decrease the feral cat population. It is more of a warm fuzzy idea that doesn’t work out well in reality. They also state that it costs far less money euthanize the unadoptable feral cats than it does to spay/neuter them and care for them as ferals.These are the answers I believe groups that are against TNR would give to the above questions .

Feral cats are ultimately the responsibility of humane organizations and animal control groups. It is their job to look out for the welfare of these animals, and if need be, euthanize them.

Feral cats cannot live happy, healthy lives. You can’t tell people that they should keep their pet cats indoors to keep them healthy and free of disease, then say that feral cats are fine out there. Contagious illnesses like Rabies, FIV, and FeLV are spreading rapidly among feral cats causing suffering and death. These cats are also at high risk for being hit by cars or harmed by bad people.

Feral cats do not live in harmony with humans and other species around them. They are a nuisance and health threat to humans (possibly carrying rabies and parasites). The growing feral cat population has also caused a dangerous decline in the bird population.

If a cat is not adoptable, then it should be euthanized. This is a more humane treatment than allowing them to go back out onto the streets where they can suffer from disease and malice. Cats need to be kept indoors only.

The Argument For TNR

Those who support TNR like The Alley Cat Allies and The Neighborhood Cats, believe that feral cats deserve to continue to inhabit this earth with us. They emphasize that what animal control groups call “euthanizing” a feral cat is really just “killing” the feral cat because there is no medical reason for ending the cat’s life. I believe that the proponents of TNR would answer the debate questions as follows:

Feral cats are the responsibility of the people in the community that they live in. Members of the community should volunteer to carry out the different parts of the TNR program.

Feral cats can and do lead happy, healthy lives outdoors. Having them spayed or neutered increases their quality of life. No longer worried about reproduction, they have less stress and fight less often. Feral cats have been known to live 7 years or more.

Feral cats have no problem living in harmony with the humans and other species around them – especially after being spayed or neutered. It is humans that have a hard time living with other species. Yes, there are populations of birds and other species declining, but it is due to human activity.

If a cat is not socialized enough to be adopted, it should be spayed or neutered, then returned to it’s natural habitat to live as it pleases.

What are your thoughts about TNR? Are you for it, against it, or undecided?

26 Comments

What a great summary of both sides of the issue. We’ve been watching both sides of the debate and gathering data to do a writeup, but you summed it up really well. We believe in TNR if the colony can be supported until it dwindles through the attrition of the sterilized colony. But we know that a lot of locations don’t have any colony caretakers who will support and look after ferals, and that makes it tough on everyone.

Thank you very much! Like you, I tend to believe that TNR is a great idea, but it really needs a lot of community support to work. I don’t like the idea of all of those cats loosing their lives if they don’t have to. However, we don’t have a lot of options for caring for feral cats yet. Hopefully this debate will result in some real answers.

Whether cats are unsocialized to humans or former pets who have been abandoned, they are still domestic pets and laws protect them against both cruelty and abandonment. Cats end up living outdoors by the actions of humans and state and federal laws that have been on the books for decades but have not been enforced. The issue is not whether or not to care for these abandoned pets and their progeny, but whether or not to enforce laws that protect all animals and force humans to take responsibility for their actions.

Most of the cats living outdoors in colonies whether they be in cities, suburbs or rural areas are not truly feral–many are abandoned pets and once they’ve been rescued and rehabilitated they make fine pets. Nearly all cats act “wild” when they are trapped and taken in to a shelter or even a clinic for spay and neuter, and initial personality cannot be used to judge whether or not a cat is socialized to humans.

Unfortunately, they are often unspayed females with kittens who’ve been abandoned intentionally, either when pregnant or after giving birth, so their kittens often grow up outside of human contact. If those kittens are rescued prior to eith weeks they can be socialized and are perfectly adoptable.

Most of the time, however, even though these former pets are easily made adoptable there is no home for them so if they are lucky enough to have a compassionate group of people who spay or neuter them and provide vaccines, they still have no indoor home but only a caretaker to feed them. This care for a former pet, an animal that we as humans domesticated, is what TNR opponents object to. Their objections are misplaced.

I can tell you of over 200 colonies in my city and area alone where cats live safely and happily outdoors and do not spread diseases, living well into their teens.

Thank you for all of the info! It is exciting to hear that the feral cats near you are doing that well. I believe, like you, that humans are to blame for a lot of (if not all of) the over population problem that exists. Humans tend to be very egocentric and unable to see the bigger picture. I love to see solutions that don’t blame the cats. Of the currently available options, TNR seems the best. I hope for a day when we can have enough homes for all of the kitties 🙂

interesting post. I have been listening and reading both sides as well. I think the program is a great idea really. At least they are getting some medical attention, and it helps the community by keeping the cats free from disease as well.
ღ husky hugz ღ frum our pack at Love is being owned by a husky!

Thank you! I agree. I love that TNR gives some value to feral cats. It addresses the human component in the overpopulation problem. I’m curious to see how the program will evolve as it continues. Hopefully one day we’ll have a home for every cat 🙂

I tend to agree with you. It does take a lot of love, hard work, and dedication to care for those cats though. Getting the community involved can be the hard part. My hope is that one day we will be able to get humans to be responsible pet owners and fix the overpopulation problem.

Well, the bird and wildlife society humans are absolutely wrong, wrong, wrong about the disease and illness issue because when ferals are spayed and neutered – in my city (Los Angeles) and in other areas that have a large TNR organization – the cats are not only neutered and spayed, they are also vaccinated and treated for any illness they might have. Managed colony caretakers also watch out for the cats’ health and add supplements to their food to ward off disease. Outdoor community cats lead happy, healthy lives if there are humans looking out for them.

It’s great to hear that you have such a successful TNR community, Sparkle! It does seem like the best solution we have available for feral cats. Maybe one day they will all be able to have loving homes too 🙂

I feel that TNR is a good idea. However, I believe the feral cat problem is caused by people not getting their cats fixed in the first place. Also there are a lot of people that are not responsible for their animals. When you adopt a pet you should be able to provide the pet proper care and not just toss them to the side that a lot of people tend to do.

I agree with you. A lot of humans have not been very good pet owners. It is crazy how little compassion some people can have -even for other humans. Maybe one day enough people will see the big picture and the overpopulation problem will disappear.

That is an interesting debate and one that I’m sure won’t end anytime soon. While i understand the negativity toward feral cats, it is not the cat’s fault. I don’t believe the answer is the euthanize them. I think the TNR does tremendous good.

I’m with you on that. I do believe that humans have played a large part in creating the overpopulation problem. That is true for many of the crises that the world faces. I think that until we can find every cat a home, TNR is a good solution.

Wees unnewstand boff sides of da issues. and mostly wees wish i didn’t exist at all. At da root of evewy feral is a human. sumwhere along da line a human is wesponsible. Meez just wish all kittys had luvin’ humans tu take cawe of dem.

I think you’re right, Dezi. Humans cause a lot of the problems that plague this planet. Somewhere there is a balance in everything that needs to be found. I would rather not see any homeless kitties either. Maybe if people who are passionate about cats hold to their beliefs and keep pushing for change, we’ll see a day where every kitty has a home.

We are gort TNR…and in fact have a feral girl we care for and the group we foster for does a LOT of TNR. we have read studies that show that the incident of FIV, FeLV and rabies is in fact no higher in feral colonies than in indoor cats (can’t lay our paws on it right now of course – MOL). and we do agree that if you do the TNR, then you need to be responsible for that colony and it’s well being. it is just sad that some groups out there blame cats…. when in fact it is a people problem.

I’m glad to hear that you guys are so active in helping feral cats! I’ve heard about studies like that too. I would think that once you spay/neuter the cats and they stop fighting so aggressively, that the spread of disease would slow down. I agree that people are the problem. It is really hard for some people to accept their responsibility in this world’s problems.

We can understand both sides of the argument, but we support the TNR efforts. Though it does require the community to take some responsibility, we think that they should – it is their fault, somewhere down the line, that the cats are even in this situation in the first place. The problem is, will they?

I am in the same boat with you on this one. I support TNR, but sometimes I wonder if people will really participate. There are some people who absolutely love feral cats like my Dad. He has a lot of medical issues, so it is hard for him to consistently take care of animal. However, he can feed the feral cats and interact with them any time he wants. He names them and everything. I have my Manna because of my Dad’s love of feral cats 🙂

The choices are, really:
– Euthenasia – feral cats aren’t pets. Perhaps they are descended from pets, but they, themselves, aren’t pets.
– Trap, zeuter, release. There are studies proving it is cheaper, but not just that, the males retain their hormones, so they still fight other males to mate with a female. So many births are avoided when a sterile male fights off a fertile male. Neutered males don’t bother trying to mate, so effectively all TNR does in terms of male cats is cost more and let the weaker males mate instead.

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